A fatal mistake the Celtics must fix at the 2025 NBA trade deadline

The The Boston Celtics have already climbed to the top of the mountain from the NBA. Keeping the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown has paid dividends, and they’ve assembled a pretty deep cast, with Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Al Horford all being battle-tested perfect pieces that combine to complete the Celtics’ championship puzzle. And just to give them even more of an embarrassment of riches, the likes of Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Cornett have become legitimate rotation players or even better.

There is no reason to believe that other contending teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Oklahoma City Thunder, to name a few, have had overtook the Celtics as the favorite to win come June. Boston may not be as dominant as last season, currently sitting at 28-11, but they’ve been there and done that and remain as hungry as ever to win another championship.

Stylistically, the Celtics play the ideal brand of basketball for today’s NBA. Their tremendous success last season on both ends of the floor is testament to that. But is there a chance the league has caught up with them, needing a change or two here and there to unseat the teams looking to dethrone them?

Here’s the fatal flaw that could destroy the Celtics if they’re not so careful.

Are the Celtics relying too much on the long ball for their success?

The goal of the analytics movement is not for teams to shoot as many threes as they want. Sure, a 3-pointer is worth 150 percent more points than a regular 2-pointer, but the endgame is still to have the best possible shot on every possession. Layups and dunks are still the most effective shot in basketball, and teams would like to get to the basket as much as they can.

The defense then counters this by sending help to the defense, preventing the offense from scoring at will by daring them to take as many outside shots as possible. Three-point shooting, by nature, is more subject to variation, though the Celtics look to tilt the equation in their favor by shooting an average of 49.4 3-pointers a night — more than half of their shooting diet (90.8 shots per game average). .

Last season, 3-pointers made up just 47 percent of the Celtics’ attempts from the field. They had a similar relationship in the playoffs, and it turned into a pretty successful postseason for them. But this season, 54.4 percent of their total hits they came from outside the port. Are the Celtics settling for too many 3-pointers? And what happens if those shots don’t fall during important games?

No one can say that this system of theirs doesn’t work; The Celtics are ranked second in offensive rating, with 119.2 points per 100 possessions — not bad at all for following up on their historic 122.2 offensive rating last season. All of their regular players, except for Luke Cornett and Neemias Kueta, can shoot the long ball and can’t be left wide open, which opens up a ton in terms of their offensive execution.

However, the past few games have shown that the Celtics can bleed if their shots don’t fall from three. They were blown out by the Thunder, caught in a competitive game against the Denver Nuggets without Nikola Jokic, lost to the Sacramento Kings and he almost tripped over a banana peel against the New Orleans Pelicans in a one-point victory. During that four-game stretch, they shot 45/166 from three – a 27.1 percent clip.

It’s fair to wonder if the Celtics are over-relying on the three, and if their shooting diet as a team leaves them susceptible to dry spells that could mean all the difference in a playoff series against a great team like the Cavs — a team that currently boasts the best attack in the league.

Is there any trade or trade Boston could make to correct this potentially fatal mistake?

It’s unlikely for Celtics to make a move on the trade market or pick someone up through ransom. They are currently on a different tax bracket, and are unlikely to part ways with any members of their roster as they have become a tight-knit group locked in their collective goal of winning a championship.

If anything, all the Celtics can do is look inward and reevaluate as a whole whether they’re relying too much on the long ball. Come playoff time, the Celtics should know the worst thing they can do is settle for contested rebounds when the stakes are highest.